Happy Friday one and all! A big well done for making it through another week of home learning – I continue to be amazed by all of your fantastic hard work! I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and spend some great times with your families.

Here are the suggested tasks to end your week:

- Literacy – In the ‘There’s no such thing as a dragon’ story, at one point the dragon goes rampaging through the town! Today I would like you to use your ideas from Wednesday and your work on subordinating conjunctions from yesterday to create a ‘WANTED’ poster for the capture of the dragon! Think carefully about how you describe the dragon so that everyone knows what to look out for. You might even want to offer a reward!

- Maths – Today have a look at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ ‘Summer term, week 3’. Focus on lesson 2: ‘Compare number sentences’. Question 7 is all about completing additions where both sides of the equals are adding number sentences that balance. For example, 2 + 3 = 4 + 1. As an extra challenge, I wonder if you can make some similar number sentences that make 20?

- Make sure you take the chance today to update your ‘Reading journal’ – you might wish to pick one of the books you have been writing about and have a go at creating a full ‘book review’ on it. Some examples of how you might set this out can be found on ‘Twinkl’: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/search?term=book+review+year+2

Thursday 4th June

Morning everyone! We are over half way through our week and you have all been doing an amazing job. Here are the suggested tasks that you might like to have a go at today:

- Maths – Have a go at the second side of ‘Progress test 3’, questions 6 – 10. Question 10 is all about totalling money. A few weeks ago you did another activity on money – as an extra challenge and as a revision of this learning I wonder if you can experiment with totalling different coins from your piggy bank/a grown-ups purse. Can you find different ways to make a total of 20p? What about 50p? What about £1?

- Handwriting – Using your handwriting book or some handwriting paper, have a go at practising the new words that I have shared with you on class Dojo.

- Creative – 2 week task. Over the next couple of weeks I would like you to design and make your own creative project that ties in with our new topic. Within this you might like to focus on the dragons aspect, or the knights, or castles, or a combination of all three! Perhaps you could make a castle, or create a knight’s armour, or you could design a dragon’s lair! Maybe a castle map tickles your fancy or perhaps you would rather make a game or do some writing – see how creative you can be! I will be setting this task again next week so please don’t rush to get it finished! Perhaps this week you could have a go at planning your project and then next week you could make it? I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Wednesday 3rd June

Good morning! I hope you enjoyed finding out about being a historian yesterday – we will be needing to use some of these skills in the coming weeks as we continue to explore our new topic. I’m pleased to hear how many of you are enjoying our new book focus too!

Task suggestions for today:

Literacy – You may wish to complete this task after the suggested topic focus! Have another look at the dragon from the ‘There’s no such thing as a dragon’ story. Choose either this dragon or one from your topic research and have a go at labelling him or her using descriptive vocabulary. See if you can use your senses to help you to describe (don’t worry about putting your ideas into sentences today, we will be building up to this throughout the week!). As an extra challenge – you might like to see if you can even use similes ('like' or 'as') to describe as well.

Maths - Try out the first side of ‘Progress test 3’, questions 1-5 (don’t worry about the second side, we will look at this tomorrow!). Question 1 focuses on what you were learning about on Monday with ‘fact families’! If you would like an extra challenge, have another look at question 3 about legs on kittens! See if you can answer the same questions but based around if they were asked about spiders (this means thinking now about 8 legs!). I wonder how you could show your working clearly? I will post a photo of this activity on Dojo should you need access to it!

Topic – Today you might like to have a go at some dragon research! Use books or the internet to see what different dragon images you can find – this is a great chance to practise your skills of using the internet and research books, in much the same way as a Historian possibly would! Talk to someone else in your household about the similarities and differences you can spot between different dragons!

Don’t forget to also keep up with your daily fitness using the links at the top of this web page!

Tuesday 2nd June

Morning all! It was lovely to hear about how you got so ‘stuck in’ to the new topic straight away yesterday! I was really interested to see and hear all about what you already knew. We will be building on this over the coming weeks.

Today’s task ideas:

Literacy – Today I would like you to think back to yesterday’s story. I wonder if you can draw the 6 main points from the story in sequence. You could set this out like a comic strip or like a story map. You might also need to listen to the story again to help you to remember what happened! If you would like an extra challenge, you could also have a go at captioning each of the pictures to explain what is happening in it.

Maths –Investigation! Noah saw 12 legs walk by into the ark.

How many creatures could he have seen?

How many different answers can you find?

What different combinations can you find/make? Can you explain how you found out these answers?

Topic – To help us with exploring our new topic we need to turn ourselves into Historians. Talk with someone in your household about what you think a historian is and what they might do as part of their job. After, have a look at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrb492p, ‘How can I be a Historian?’. It shares some videos you might like to have a watch of and an activity to try out!

Don’t forget to keep up with your daily reading!

Monday 1st June

Welcome back to term 6! I hope you all had a fantastic half term holiday! I can’t believe we are already starting a brand new term! Last term I continued to be absolutely blown away by the amazing effort and hard work that you were putting into your home learning – it is so lovely to see all that you are getting up to! This term we will be beginning to explore an exciting new topic! The focus for this will be………. ‘DRAGONS, KNIGHTS AND CASTLES!’ and thinking about the question: ‘What was life like 1000 years ago?’

Suggested tasks for today:

-Literacy – To tie in with our new topic, today I am going to share a brand new story with you! It is called ‘There’s no such thing as a dragon!’ Before you have a listen to the story your task is to get predicting! Using the title of the book and the front cover picture, can you make some predictions of what you think the story might be about? You could create a ‘mindmap’ of your ideas. Use the question words ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, when’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ to help you come up with your ideas! You could even assign each question word to a number on a dice and once you roll that number see if you can think of a question to ask someone in your household – then you can see what their predictions are too!

Once you have finished your predictions, have a look in our shared area on ‘Class Dojo’ to find the video I have uploaded and see what happens in the actual story! If you have trouble getting onto this, you can also watch a version of the story on ‘Youtube’ at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOtC2eWHPao

-Maths – Today try out https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ ‘Summer term, week 3’. Focus on lesson 1: ‘Fact families addition and subtraction bonds to 20’. This activity is all about fact families and different ways that they can be represented. As a challenge, you might like to think of your own fact family – write out all the other calculations that are part of this family and then see if you can represent it in a part whole model (as in question 3) and a bar model (as in question 4).

-Topic – To tie in with our new topic, I would like you to start thinking about and sharing ideas of what you think life would have been like 1000 years ago to see what you already know! You could present your initial ideas as a poster, in pictures, as a mindmap, as a similarities and differences table or in any other way that you choose. Remember, this is just your initial ideas so I am not expecting you to carry out lots of research to complete this…it is just sharing what pops into your head! If you would like something to get you started, you could think in relation to the key words of our topic: ‘dragons’, ‘knights’ and ‘castles’.

-Spelling focus – Have another look at the words you have been learning so far from the ‘Year 2 common exception words’. Revisit the words you have learnt so far and see if you can add a couple more to practise.

Friday 22nd May

Happy Friday everyone!! A massive well done for not just completing another week, but a whole term of home learning!! I have honestly been so blown away by all of the amazing hard work you have put in. You all deserve a very well-earned rest over the half term week. I hope you all have a lovely break! If you do wish to have some ideas of activities to keep you on your toes over half term then https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/stay-at-home-printable-pack-families is a great place to look! Also, don’t forget to check out Dojo today – I have left you all a little video! Have a great week!

Some activity suggestions to finish off your week:

-Literacy – Yesterday you thought about an adventure that Dougal might have in your underwater land and you showed it as a story map. Today I would like you to finish the term in style by showing off your writing skills! Have a go at turning your pictures in to a narrative of your very own! You could write this up as a story like we would in our literacy books at school. Or, you could challenge yourself by turning the story into a picture book! As an extra challenge, I wonder if you can use any conjunctions in your writing? Some examples could be – and, or, but, when, if, that, because.

-Maths – We are going to keep ‘ticking away’ with little bits around time to keep it fresh in your minds! I know lots of you enjoyed the time game we played a couple of weeks ago (which can be found in your packs but was also shared on Class Dojo when we first played it). As so many of you told me that you enjoyed this so much I thought you might like to have another go at it today to end the term! Or you might like to have a go at revisiting playing the times tables game you created last week! (If you didn’t get around to making one last week, today might be a good chance to have a go!).

-Handwriting challenge – I have shared a new set of handwriting words for you to gave a go at on our class story section of Dojo!

-Creative – Finish off your creative mask project from yesterday!

-Don’t forget to make sure your reading journal is up to date with any books you have read over the past week. Perhaps someone in your household can using the ‘Reading Vipers’ to challenge you on the book you are reading?

Thursday 21st May

Happy Thursday one and all! Wow, I loved some of your amazing and creative ideas that you shared yesterday for a new photo that could be found on the camera – great work! Today you might like to have a look at: https://www.childhood.org.au/app/uploads/2020/04/hug_HR.pdf ‘Many ways to share a hug!’

Grown-ups - at the top of this page I have shared some other links to support with your child’s wellbeing at this time, including some lovely stories that they might like to have a look at!

Other ideas for you to have a go at today are:

Literacy – Last week we read about Dougal who discovered the lost city of Atlantis. Today Dougal discovers the underwater land from the photo you created yesterday! I wonder what he might see there and what experiences he might have? Draw 6 pictures to show a new adventure for Dougal that takes place in your created land from your photo. You could have a go at role-playing his adventure first to help you to think of some exciting ideas. As a challenge, you might want to add feelings words to each picture to show Dougal’s experiences! Keep hold of these pictures as tomorrow you are going to be turning them into a story to finish off the week!

Maths – Today try out https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ ‘Summer term, week 2’, lesson 5 which is called ‘Friday Maths challenge’! (don’t worry I haven’t gone loopy and know it’s not Friday yet, but this is a good task to see how you apply your learning!) Just try out up to the first 4 challenges.

Comprehension task – Have a go at the last part of ‘Progress test 1’ (page 25), questions 5-7 on ‘Esio Trot’. As with last week, see if you can underline in the text where you find the information

Creative – 2 day task. Think about the underwater creatures that might feature in Dougal’s adventures from your literacy focus. Pick one of these and have a go at designing and creating a mask for this creature. If you need some inspiration, Google ‘Sea creature mask craft for children’ where you will find some great ideas to help you!

Wednesday 20th May

Morning all! Thank you for all of the work you have been sending in to me again this week, I have loved seeing it all – especially some of your descriptions from yesterday!

Task suggestions for today are:

Literacy – Today on Dojo I have shared the rest of the ‘Flotsam’ story that we started yesterday! When the boy takes a closer look at the photos he discovers that many, many people have come across this camera before! What clues can you spot in the pictures that they have been taken over a long period of time? The boy throws the camera back into the ocean. Today you could have a go at drawing a new photo that could be found on the camera by the girl at the end of the story. Try and be as imaginative and creative as you can! As a challenge, you could even label the parts of your picture – see if you can think of any synonyms for your adjective choices. Remember, you can also access a version of the story via ‘Youtube’ by heading to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MTKWnxzqvM

Maths – Have a look at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ and focus on ‘Summer term, week 2’, lesson 4 which is called ‘Problem solving’. As a challenge, have another look at question 1. Can you explain how you solved this problem to an adult? Once you have worked out what each shape is worth, I wonder if you can create your own number sentences using them?

Music – You might like to have a look at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjcwqp3 It is a lesson all about rhythm using clapping and contains a video about rhythm and body percussion and some activities for you to have a go at.

Don’t forget to keep up with your daily fitness using the links at the top of the page and the ‘Tokyo Challenge’ that I shared with you the other week!

Tuesday 19th May

Good morning everyone! Thank you all for the home learning you have been sending to me so far – it looks like you have started this new week of home learning with a bang!

Ideas for you to have a go at today:

-Literacy – On our class story today I have posted a video of the first part of a new book called ‘Flotsam!’. You can also watch another version on ‘Youtube’ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MTKWnxzqvM – if you watch on here please only watch up to 2:03!

This book is a bit of an unusual book because it is a book that doesn’t have any words! The boy in the story finds a camera that has been washed up on the beach. It must be an old camera because he has to take the film in to be developed. When he does, he finds the most unusual photos have been taken with the camera! I will share some pictures of these too. Pick one of the photos and see if you can describe it using expanded noun phrases (e.g. the enormous, turquoise octopus). I wonder if anyone in your household can guess which picture you chose based on your description of it?

-Maths – Try out the second side of ‘Progress Test 2’ (pages 64/65 question b-12e). Question 11 is looking at how you can add the numbers in any order – we call this ‘commutative’. I wonder if this always works? As a challenge, can you investigate this! Can you add any 2, 3 or 4 numbers together and no matter what order they are in will they make the same answer? Is this always, sometimes or never true? I wonder why this might be? See if you can talk about ‘why’ with someone in your household.

-Spelling – Pick a new set of 5 words from your ‘Year 2 Common Exception Words List’ – challenge yourself to a quiz with these new words and those you have already learnt!

-Science – At the beginning of the year, we thought about different materials and their properties! Today I would like you to revisit this learning. Visit the web page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6kdwty and review your learning on different materials and the properties that they have. You will find a video on here and also some short activities you can have a go at!

Class 2 continue to be home learning superstars!!!

Monday 18th May

Morning all! Welcome back to another week of home learning – and our last week before half term! I hope you all had a lovely and relaxing weekend.

Some task suggestions for today:

-Literacy – We have learnt in class all about suffixes (word endings) and at home you have already thought about how the ‘ful’ and ‘less’ suffix changes word meanings. Today, you could have a think about the ‘er’ and ‘est’ suffixes and how these change the meanings of the ‘root’ (original) word.

For example: happy (root) – happier – happiest

Talk with a grown up about which of these suffixes makes the root word sound the most happy. Then have a go at experimenting with the ‘er’ and ‘est’ suffixes on the list of words below. Perhaps you could have a go at using them in sentences to show how this changes the meaning of the word? Be careful with root words that end in a ‘y’ as this letter will also need to change!

-Maths – Try out the first side of ‘Progress test 2’ (pages 62/63, found in your home learning packs and I will also post a photo of a copy on Dojo). Have a go at questions 1-8a. Question 7 is all about Hopscotch the rabbit – as a challenge I wonder if you can work out some more carrot facts for Hopscotch? For example, how many carrots would he eat in 15 days? 50 days? 35 days? Think about how you show your working out. You could use arrays, or can you use what you already know to help you? For example, if you are trying to work out 15 days, can you use 10 days and 5 days to help you? I will post a video on our Class Dojo to help explain this further if needed! We will focus on the back of this and complete the second side tomorrow.

-Topic – To carry on with our investigating of British beaches over time, as with last week visit the website www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1history.html. This time have a go at ‘Activity 3: Comparing Seaside Scenes’. This thinks about what is the same and what is different. Have a go at practising your typing skills when you record your responses. As an alternative challenge (or if you are unable to access this resource), you could instead find a photo of a modern day beach and one of a Victorian beach and create a similarities/differences table for the two.

Friday 15th May

Happy Friday all! I loved seeing how some of you made such a great start with your maths x table games yesterday – I saw some really creative ideas in the making! Well done for all of the amazing hard work you have been putting in this week – you continue to blow my socks off!

Suggested task ideas to finish off your week:

Literacy – Yesterday you had a go at creating a plan for a newspaper report – today I would like you to have a go at writing the report! Perhaps you could set it out like a real life report (i.e. in columns, with a clear headline etc.). There are some good templates on ‘Twinkl’ that you could use if you choose to do this, just search ‘Newspaper writing template’ – or you could have a go at creating your own layout! Don’t forget to use your planned ideas from yesterday and try to think of ways to make your audience want to read on! If you fancy something a bit different, instead of writing a newspaper report you might wish to create and perform a script for a news programme like Newsround!

Maths – Part 2 of the task set yesterday! Have a go at creating/finishing your game and try it out! Have fun!

Handwriting challenge – I have posted some new words on the class story part of Dojo for you to have a go at today.

Take some time today to get up to date with your reading journal. Perhaps someone in your family can challenge you surrounding the book you are reading using the ‘Reading Vipers’.

Remember the websites at the top of the page if you want to try out some extra challenges!

Thursday 14th May

Morning! A great start with investigating British beaches yesterday! And I also loved hearing about some of your reporting skills.

Here are the task suggestions for today:

Literacy – News is sometimes shared on the TV but also sometimes shared in a newspaper. See if you can find an example of a newspaper at home or on the internet. Think about how it is set out with a catchy headline at the top, paragraphs to keep it in sequence, written in columns, pictures with captions to add detail to the report and also quotes from interviews. In your reporter role from yesterday, have a go at creating a plan of a newspaper report all about Dougal and his discoveries! See if you can use some of the quotes from your interview yesterday in your plan. You could use this format https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-or-525-planning-a-newspaper-report-differentiated-activity-sheets to help you if you like!

Maths – 2 day task! Over the last few weeks you have been investigating the 2, 10 and 5 x tables. Today you could have a look at all of these tables together! Can you remember them out of order? Can someone else in your household quiz you on a mixture of them? As a challenge you could even create your very own ‘times table game’ that you can use to keep you practising! This could be a matching game, a board game, a card game, a puzzle game, or any other game of your own choice! You could maybe plan your game today, ready to create it tomorrow.

Topic – Today we are going to start thinking about comparing British holidays over time. Go again to crickweb.co.uk/ks1history.html and click on the seaside option again. This time focus on ‘Activity 2: Sequence seaside photos and explain’. Think carefully about what you put on your virtual post-its to explain your reasoning! You can print off your work on this if you want to keep it! If you fancy a different way of accessing this task, or if you want an extra challenge (or are having trouble accessing this activity), you could have a go at carrying out your own research (perhaps on the internet or in photo albums at home) to explore photos of British beaches over time.

Don’t forget your daily reading!

Wednesday 13th May

Good morning all! Great work yesterday – well done to all of you who had a go at the music session to help you with Mrs Farr’s and Mrs Haffenden’s singing challenge! Remember to drink lots of water and take regular breaks today.

Some ideas you might like to have a go at:

Literacy – Yesterday you imagined you were a reporter and thought of a set of questions you would ask Dougal about his adventures under the sea and in ‘Atlantis’. Today you could turn yourself into that reporter and see if someone else in your household will take on the role of ‘Dougal’. Ask them your questions, but make sure you write down their responses just like a real reporter would. You could even film your interview like the reporters on TV do! Maybe you could swap roles and think about the answers you would give if you were Dougal! At the top of this page I have shared a link for ‘Newsround’ – you might want to watch an episode of this first to give you some ideas for this task!

Maths – Have another look at ‘Summer term, week 2’ on https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/. Today you could try ‘Lesson 3’ (‘Four operations with length’). As an extra challenge, have another look at question 5. Have a go at creating some of your own problems similar to this (involving lengths) for someone else in your household. For example, in the snake enclosure at a zoo the first snake I saw was 67cm long. The second snake was 23cm longer than this. How long was the second snake? Make sure you keep a record of the correct answers!

Topic – Today we are going to investigate British beaches (and start thinking about seaside holidays in the past)! If you can, go to crickweb.co.uk/ks1history.html and scroll down to the ‘Seaside’ option. When you click on this you will get 3 activity options, click on ‘Activity 1: Describing Seaside Scenes’. Have a go at annotating the photo with what you can see (don’t worry, we will have a go at the other activities later in the week!). This will give you a chance to practise your typing skills too! If you can’t get this to work, find a photo of a typical British beach holiday (maybe one from your own photo album) and carry out the same activity with this instead.

Comprehension task – You might wish to have a go at ‘Progress test 1’ (page 24) called ‘It’s dark in here’, found in your home learning pack (also shared on Dojo if needed). Have a go at questions 1-4 – can you underline in the text where you find the answers? Don’t worry about the ‘Esio Trot’ questions – we will look at these next week!

Tuesday 12th May

Morning everyone! It was lovely to speak to so many of you yesterday and hear about all of the amazing things you have been getting up to. I also really enjoyed some of the postcards that you designed to Bob yesterday and it was lovely to hear about all that you had celebrated about yourselves as part of the PSHE task - I learnt some things about you that I never knew!

Some suggestions of activities for today:

Literacy – I have shared on ‘Class Story’ a page from our book where TV reporters come to visit Dougal to find out all about his adventures! Imagine you are a reporter meeting Dougal at the end of the story. See if you can come up with a list of questions that you could ask Dougal to find out more about his experiences. Try and use the question words ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘how’, plus any others that you can think of! Keep hold of these questions as we will be using them tomorrow!

Maths – Have a look at ‘Summer term, week 2’ on https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/. Have a look at lesson 2 (‘order lengths’) to have a go at! Part of this session asks you to explore lengths in your classroom (/home) (question 3) where you predict which is the longest out of a set of objects and then measure them to see if you were correct. As an extra challenge, when you do this you could also think about how much longer/shorter the objects are from each other and see if you can carry out any calculations to explore this (e.g. pencil is 15cm and book is 23cm so 23cm-15cm = 8cm).

Music – You might like to have a look at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zr4nscw . This session has a short video and some tasks to help you to learn about using your voice expressively, using chants and rhymes. Mrs Farr has shared in the newsletter a song link from Mrs Haffenden that we are hoping for everyone in the school to have a go at learning – so this lesson might help you with practising for this. Perhaps you could then have a go at using your new techniques with the song link from Mrs Farr's newsletter!

Remember to keep up to date with your daily fitness! There are lots of great ways to do this including our Tokyo Challenge (the details of which I shared with you via Dojo last week), ‘Real PE’ (link at the top of the page), Joe Wicks and ‘Cosmic Kids Yoga (found on youtube!)

Monday 11th May

Happy Monday! I hope that you all had a lovely bank holiday weekend. I went on some lovely walks over the weekend and even came across some new-born lambs on my travels! I hope you have all been able to get out and about too – even if just into the garden!

Some task ideas to start off the week:

-Literacy – We have been exploring the story of ‘Dougal’s Deep-Sea Diary’! Today I have posted a picture of the page where Dougal finds Atlantis on our Class story on Dojo. Have a look at the picture and think about what you can see. (Instead you might want to do a bit of your own research into the legend of Atlantis and see what images you can find on the internet). It says in the story that Dougal buys a souvenir and sends a postcard to his cousin ‘Bob’! I wonder what he might have told Bob about? Have a go at creating the postcard that you think Dougal might have sent – what do you think he would have written about?

-Maths - Following on from last week, I would like you to have a go at the second side of ‘Progress test 1’ (pages 36-37, questions 8-16) found in your home learning pack. If you would like an extra challenge, question 13 is about addition and subtraction fact families. Perhaps you could come up with some addition and subtraction fact families of your own?

-PSHE –Today you could have a go at celebrating what makes you who you are! Talk about this with someone else in your household – what makes you special? What do you like? What do you dislike? What are you good at? What do you find tricky? What is your favourite toy? What food do you like eating? Etc. If you would like, you could then present what you have talked about by drawing a big picture of you in the middle of a page with everything that makes you, you, all around it! If it is a nice day you could even do this outside by making a chalk outline of yourself and surrounding that instead! Or perhaps you can think of another creative way of sharing what you have been thinking about?

-Spelling – Pick 5 new words from your ‘Year 2 Common Exception Words List’ – have a go at learning the spelling of these words and try them out in a little quiz alongside the words you have already learnt.

-Don’t forget the websites at the top of the page should you wish to challenge yourself with a bit of extra maths or literacy!

Thursday 7th May

Morning all! A huge well done for completing another week of home learning. I continue to be blown away by the complete determination and hard work you are showing with all that you are learning about. It is a bank holiday tomorrow so this will be the final set of suggested tasks I will set you this week – instead I hope you have a well-earned break this weekend!

Some ideas that you might like to have a go at today:

-Literacy – I saw some great ideas for your own ‘Deep Sea Explorer Diary’ yesterday! Today I would like you to have a go at turning your planned ideas into a piece of writing. Think carefully about what you learnt about on Monday and Tuesday (what a great diary needs and also verbs in the past tense) to help you. I will share on the ‘Class Story’ part of Dojo a checklist that you might like to use while you are writing. As an extra challenge, you could even look back on some of your descriptive writing from last week and magpie some of your adjectives and conjunctions from that to help you to build up your descriptions! Don’t forget, when you have finished to edit your writing – checking for punctuation, super adjective choices and anything else you spot from your checklist!

-Maths – In your home learning pack I have put a page called ‘Progress test 1’ (pages 34-35, questions 1-7, we will do the back of this next week!) Have a go at these 7 questions. I will put a picture of the activity on Dojo for those that need it. Question 7 is about using big and small blocks to represent tens and ones, much like we do with dienes. As an extra challenge, can you find any big and small objects around your house to make up some 2 digit numbers and quiz someone else in your home as to what numbers you have made. For example, I could use apples and grapes (apples for tens and grapes for ones) – 3 apples and 2 grapes = 32. Or maybe you could make your own objects to represent them! I will post a video on our Dojo class story to share a bit more about what I mean with this for you to have a look at if you need to!

-Topic – Yesterday, you did a bit of finding out and exploring of your own of different beaches around the world. Pick one of these beaches to investigate in a bit more detail. Can you perhaps create a holiday poster of this beach? You could describe the beach, label it, talk about climate and maybe what you might see if you went there! I wonder if you can challenge yourself by using persuasive techniques to try and encourage someone to visit your beach on their next holiday?

Good morning! Some great work yesterday on looking at the past tense and revising your learning on measures!

Some activity suggestions for today:

-Literacy – For the rest of the week, we are going to be creating our own ‘Deep Sea Explorer Diary’! Today you are going to plan your diary. Think about the sort of ideas Dougal wrote about and what you experienced when you were role playing his adventure last week to help you. You could even have a go at role playing your own adventure first to help you start planning – perhaps you could use the bath or paddling pool to act it out using Lego people! If you need an idea of how to set out your plan I will post a suggestion on our ‘Class Story’ part of Dojo. Remember, a plan is just your ideas not a full piece of writing!

-Maths – Perhaps today you could have a look at ‘Summer term – week 1, lesson 4 - Measure length (m)’ on https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/. Have a look at the lesson presentation and the activity. The first question is all about estimating objects (around your home) that are longer or shorter than 1m. If you can, test these out using a tape measure. If you don’t have one to hand though then don’t worry! You could use a ruler to measure up to 100cm (remember 1m = 100cm) on a piece of string and use that instead!

-Topic investigating – Have a look and see if you can find some pictures of different beaches around the world. How are they different from each other? How are they the same? I wonder if you can find where these beaches are located if you look on a world map? We will be using what you find out in our learning tomorrow!

-Handwriting – I will post on Dojo some new handwriting words that you might like to have a go at today.

Tuesday 5th May

Happy Tuesday one and all! You made a great start to the new week of home learning yesterday from what I can see!

Here are the task suggestions for today:

-Literacy – Diary entries are often written in the past tense to tell you about things that have already happened. I have posted a picture of the ‘Friday’ and ‘Saturday’ pages from Dougal’s diary on our ‘Class Story’ section of Dojo – I wonder if you can spot any verbs (doing words)? Which of these verbs are in the past tense? Once you have done this, have a go at turning the verbs below into the past tense. You could use the sentence starts ‘Today I…’, ‘Yesterday I…’ to help you to work out how the verb changes (e.g. Today I run, yesterday I ran). For a challenge, you could even use the words in sentences to show how the tense changes the meaning of the verb! There are some great activities on ‘Twinkl’ that can support with this!

sit

shout

eat

sing

walk

get

drink

wake

-Maths – Today you could have a look at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/. Watch the video and have a go at the activity for ‘Summer term – week 1, lesson 3 - Measure length (cm)’. As an extra challenge, perhaps you could have a go at trying out measuring in cm yourself. Use a ruler to measure different objects around your home, have a think about how you could record this information. You could even make a prediction for each new object on whether it is longer or shorter than the last object. Be careful to measure from ‘0’, not from the end of the ruler!

-Comprehension – If you would like an extra little reading challenge you might like to have a go at the ‘Putting Events in Order’ comprehension activity in your packs (page 18-19). This is using the ‘Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark’ texts that you have used for previous comprehension tasks.

-Remember the links at the top of the page to help you out with your daily fitness. ‘Cosmic Kids Yoga’ is also a great resource that can be found if you search on youtube!

Fitness Fun - To help keep up with your fitness, as a school we have entered into the 'Tokyo Challenge'! I have sent all the information for how to sign up to this via Dojo...Enjoy!

Monday 4th May

Welcome back to another week of home learning! I hope that you all had a lovely weekend and spent lots of lovely time with your families. I have been taking part in some family quizzes online which have been keeping me very puzzled!

Some task suggestions to keep you also puzzled for today:

-Don’t forget you daily reading (and journals), keeping active and fit with PE and the chore challenge all of this week!

-Literacy – Last week we shared the story of ‘Dougal’s Deep-Sea Diary’. This story is written mainly as a diary. We have looked at diary writing earlier on in the year when we learnt about Samuel Pepys. Have a chat with someone at home about what you think a diary is. I wonder if you have ever seen or used a diary? Have a go at creating a list of things that you think a good diary needs (we call this a ‘WAGOLL – What A Great One Looks Like’ checklist in school). There are some good examples of diaries on ‘Twinkl’ if you need some inspiration for ideas!

-Maths - Today you could challenge yourself on your 5x table! I wonder if you can work out the 5x table up to 12x5? Have a go at writing it out and show workings as arrays if you need to. What patterns do you notice? Can you do them out of order? Like last week with the 10x table, as a challenge you could make your own matching pairs ‘Snap’ game with the questions and answers!

-Spelling focus - Using the ‘Year 2 Common Exception Words List’ (found in your packs and also on ‘Twinkl’) – pick 5 new words as a focus for this week. As with last week, you might like to ask someone in your household to quiz you on all of the words that you have learn so far! Can you write some silly sentences using your words?

-PSHE – Today you might fancy having a go at something a little different. If so, this website https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmmgrj6 activity on 'Managing Emotions' could be something you might be interested in looking at today. It also includes an active video to keep you on your toes and a task for you to have a go at!

Class 2 continue to work their socks off!

Friday 1st May

Happy Friday everyone! Well done for almost completing another whole week of home learning. I have been blown away by your hard work and dedication – and how some of you are still keeping up with the chore challenge alongside everything else! Don’t forget to have a well earned rest this weekend!

Literacy – I saw some great work from your role play and story sequencing yesterday and you had some super ideas about Dougal’s thoughts and feelings. Today I would like you to create a character profile of Dougal. You can present this in any way that you choose but please can you try and include information about Dougal’s ‘appearance’ and his ‘personality’. I wonder what you think Dougal would be like if you met him?

Maths – You did so well with your first chance at exploring time yesterday that I thought you might like to have a go at a simple game just to find out what you already know about time! In your packs is the ‘Telling the Time board game’ – perhaps you would like to have a go at this today with someone else in your family!

Handwriting – I will share on our ‘Class Story’ on Dojo a couple of new handwriting words that you might like to have a go at practising today!

Don’t forget to check out the websites at the top of the page if you want to challenge yourself with any extra learning!

A little puzzler to end the week! – You have worked so hard this week! For a bit of fun, I will share on Dojo an ‘Under the sea, crack the code’ puzzle! This can also be found at: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-2547377-crack-the-code-under-the-sea-activity-sheet. I wonder if you can solve the clues to crack the code? Good luck! If you wish, you might even like to create your own code for someone else in your household to have a go at cracking!

Thursday 30th April

Morning everyone! You have nearly made it through the week and from what I have seen you are all doing an absolutely super job!

The task suggestions for today are:

Literacy – I know lots of you are keen to find out a bit more about Dougal and his adventures! You made some great predictions using the front cover to guide you yesterday. Now have a listen to the story! I have posted a video of my reading of the story on Dojo on class story or you can find another version on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULjWgbz1nDw

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did. Once you have listened to the story you could have a go at role-playing Dougal’s underwater adventures – see if you can remember what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story. You might even want to recreate his adventures to show someone else in your family! For a challenge, as you are role playing you might want to talk to an adult about how you think Dougal is feeling at different parts of the story and why his feelings change.

-Maths – As part of ‘Dougal’s’ story, he shares information for each day ‘in sequence’. We have talked lots about what ‘sequence’ means in class – can you remember what it means? You could then have a go at sequencing your own daily routine. You could present this as a timetable or you could draw a cartoon for each activity. As an extra challenge – I wonder if you can write down rough times that you might do each activity. We haven’t really looked at time in class yet so this is a bit of a challenge, stick to just ‘o’clock’ and ‘half past’ times if you are finding it a bit tricky!

-Comprehension task – If you fancy some extra reading, today you could have a go at the second ‘Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark’ comprehension from your home learning packs (pg16-17, questions 1-6).

-Topic – At the beginning of the year we thought about ‘food chains’ and explored food chains for animals on land, e.g. sun – grass – cow – human. We learnt about how our food chains had producers and consumers. For topic today you might like to see if you can think of (or find out about) a food chain that might take place under the sea! I wonder if you can work out which parts of the food chain are producers and which part are consumers? There are some good resources on ‘Twinkl’ to help you with this activity if you need!

Wednesday 29th April

Good morning year 2! I really enjoyed reading some of your fantastic descriptions yesterday and thought you came up with some great ideas.

Here are the suggested tasks that you might like to have a go at today:

Literacy – To tie in with our ‘Under the Sea’ topic, today I am going to share with you the cover of a new book! On the ‘Class Story’ section of Dojo I have shared a picture of the front cover of this new book. It is called ‘Dougal’s Deep-Sea Diary’ and I think you are going to love it! Some questions you might like to think about are: ‘Who is he?’, ‘Where is he?’, ‘What is he doing?’, etc. Once you have done this you might like to draw a spider diagram sharing your predictions for the story – remember to use the clues from the cover to help you!

Maths – Today you could have a look at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/. Try out ‘Week 2, lesson 5 – Equivalence of a half and 2 quarters’ and perhaps you could have a go at the activity that links with this lesson (you can record this in your red book if needed!). Question 5 is all about fraction facts for the number 20 (e.g. ¼ of 20, ½ of 20, ¾ of 20). If you have finished this as a challenge you could also investigate fraction facts for the number ‘12’ (e.g. ¼, ½, 1/3, 2/4, 2/3 of…). You could use resources you have at home, like for example Lego, to help with your working out if you need to! I wonder if you can investigate the fraction facts for any other number? Think about the video I posted yesterday to help you to show your working out!

Creative– Design your own fish! Perhaps today you could design your own fish that could live at the bottom of the ocean. Think about what it might need to survive and thrive!

Don’t forget the link in the websites at the top of the page for ideas on how to keep up your daily fitness and remember to also keep up with your reading journal – today might be a good chance to get up to date with this!

Tuesday 28th April

Morning all! I hope you had a good day yesterday exploring the 10 x table and beginning to think in a bit more detail about our topic. I loved seeing what some of you were getting up to!

Some suggestions for today:

Literacy – Yesterday you came up with some great ideas and adjectives using your senses for an ‘Under the Sea’ setting. Today I would like you to put these ideas together into a piece of descriptive writing. Try and use the ideas you had yesterday in full sentences. If you read your description to someone else does it help them to imagine and visualise your setting? As an extra challenge, see if you can use conjunctions such as ‘and’, ‘so’, ‘but’, ‘because’, ‘if’ and ‘when’ to extend your sentence ideas. If you wish, you could use the sentence opener ‘Deep at the bottom of the ocean…’ to get you started with your writing.

Maths – You might want to have a look at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/. Watch the video and have a go at the task for ‘Week 2, Lesson 1 – Recognise a third’. Remember that fractions need to be ‘equal parts of a whole’. Or, as a challenge you could experiment with finding thirds of objects around the home, e.g. can you split a whole object (like a biscuit) into equal thirds? Can you share your teddies into 3 equal groups to make thirds? How many teddies do you end up with in each third? You could even use resources such as pasta and experiment with splitting 6, 12, 18, 9, 21 into thirds – how much do you end up with in each third? I will share a little video on our ‘Class Story’ on Dojo to explain this a bit further!

Topic – For topic today you could have a look at https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-10990-under-the-sea-what-can-you-see-powerpoint This shares some slides with hidden animals (I will share an example on Dojo if you are having trouble accessing). Can you create your own picture of an under the sea animal that could be hidden. See if you can find out some facts about the animal (possibly using books, the internet or your own knowledge) just like the one in the example? You could even try hiding all but a small part of the picture (just like in the example) and see if someone else in your family can guess the animal you have hidden!

Remember to keep up with your daily reading- don’t forget, ‘Reading Vipers’ is a great way to test your comprehension of your book!

Monday 27th April

Good morning! Welcome back to a new week of home learning. I hope that you all had a lovely weekend! I spent the weekend playing some board games, tidying my kitchen cupboards and I have also enjoyed getting into a new book! You all worked so hard last week – I have been so impressed by all of your hard work and thank you for sending me photos and messages via Dojo, it has been lovely to see all that you have been getting up to.

Some suggested activities to start your week off:

-For all this week don’t forget you daily reading, the links at the top of the webpage that direct you to where you can find some good PE activities and keeping up with the chore challenge if you can! Remember, the 'Oxford Owls' link above also has some great eBooks for you to choose from in place of your normal reading book - and it's free access too once you are signed up!

-Literacy – Use books you have at home or the internet to carry out some research and find some pictures of different ‘Under the Sea’ settings. Think about what you can see. What would it be like to dive down here? You could use some role play to imagine what it might be like. Can you use your senses to describe this setting? Create a mind map and surround it with your ideas for each sense. You might like to record these ideas in your red book. Try and use exciting adjectives! We have also talked about synonyms for adjectives so you might want to go back and edit your adjective choices once you have finished - you could even use a thesaurus to help you with this! As an extra challenge - can you use any similes to help you to describe? Keep hold of the ideas that you come up with as tomorrow you will be using these planned ideas to help you to create a descriptive piece of writing!

-Maths – Today you could have a go at challenging yourself on your 10x table! Can you remember the 10x table up to 12x10? Have a go at writing it out. What patterns do you notice? See if someone can quiz you on them out of order. As a challenge you could even make your own matching pairs ‘Snap’ game with the questions and answers! Challenge someone else in your household to play the game with you.

-Spellings – Use the ‘Year 2 Common Exception Words List’ (found in your packs and also on ‘Twinkl’) – pick 5 new words as a focus for this week. Perhaps you could ask someone to quiz you on the words you have already learnt to see if you can still remember the spellings? If you would like, you could even explore your new words by creating a word search or crossword! If you choose to make a crossword, think carefully about the clues that you give for each word.

Have a good day!

Friday 24th April

Well done – you have nearly completed another week of home learning! I continue to be blown away by all the super work you have been doing. Make sure you have a well-earned rest over the weekend and take some time to enjoy playing games etc. with your family!

-Literacy – Think back to the beginning of the week when you created a performance of the ‘Commotion in the Ocean’ poem. Use what you thought about then and rehearse for a performance of the poem that you created yesterday! I would love to hear how you get on with this!

-Also, you might want to have a go at a comprehension activity from your home learning pack. Try the comprehension called ‘The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark’ (just the first side, pages 14/15, questions 1-6). These are all ‘finding information’ questions, remember to underline or highlight in the text where you find your answer! I will put a copy of this also on Dojo should anyone need it.

-Maths – Use the link https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ to access WEEK 1, lesson 5 ‘Find a quarter’. This includes some fraction problems, record the answers in your red book. See if you can explain how you solve the problem to someone else.

As an extra challenge, can you create a fraction problem for someone else in your household to solve?

-Spelling challenge – Reflect back on all of the words that you have been focusing on over the last few weeks from the ‘Year 2 common exception words’ list. Can you remember how to spell the words you have already learnt? Can you add a couple of new words to practise to your list?

Ongoing creative topic project – I have been amazed by some of the creativity that I have seen from you all! Amazing work! Don’t forget to send over pictures of all that you have completed.

Massive, mega, ENORMOUS congratulations to Mrs Farr on your first anniversary of being our Headteacher!!! From all of us in Year 2

Thursday 23d April

Morning all! The weekend is in sight! Well done for all that you have been doing so far this week. I have really enjoyed seeing all of your 'Under the Sea' artwork, along with all the other tasks you have been sending in to me as well!

Today you might like to have a go at:

-Literacy – Using your ideas from yesterday, can you create your own short poem about the creature that you chose? Look at the examples on Dojo to help you think about how to structure your poem. Or, you might wish to create your poem as an acrostic poem. Perhaps you could decorate it so that it would fit in with the rest of the book as a new page!

-Maths – This week we have been using Whiterose to support with our learning on fractions and revisit some of our prior learning. Today I would like you to go on https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ Try WEEK 1, lesson 4 ‘Recognise a quarter’. Question 7 is all about finding quarter of a rectangle...

As an extra challenge - how many different ways can you find a quarter of a rectangle? You might want to draw your rectangles on squared paper to help you with your exploring. For example, what if the rectangle took up 4 squares? Or 8 squares? How many different ways can you find to shade a quarter of an 8 square rectangle? (2 squares) Or what about 12 squares? I wonder if you can work systematically with your exploring?

-Topic – Have a think about how living things have adapted to a life under the sea. Can you remember what ‘adapting’ means? We learnt about this just before Christmas, so you might need to cast your mind back! Pick some creatures from under the sea (for a challenge you could even think about plants as well!) – how have these animals adapted to help them to survive? For example, animals that live at the bottom of the ocean, animals with sharp teeth, etc. If you wanted to, you could even think of a way to present what you have found out for one particular animal.

-Handwriting challenge – I will share on Dojo some new handwriting words for you to have a go at in your red handwriting book.

Don’t forget the websites I shared at the beginning of the week if you want something to supplement your home learning:

Good morning everyone! We are half way through our week of home learning and you have been doing a super job! Thank you to all of you that have been keeping in touch with some of your home learning fun!

Activities that you might wish to have a go at today:

-As always, keep up with your daily reading and fitness breaks – don’t forget we now have access to ‘Real PE’ which you can do at home, I sent out the information for logging into this last week via Dojo.

-Literacy – On the class story I will share a couple more of the poems from the ‘Commotion in the ocean’ poem book. Each poem is about a different sea/water creature! I wonder which is your favourite? Why is this one your favourite? Pick an animal of your own that links to the sea. Draw a picture of it or write it’s name in the middle of a page in your red book (you might prefer to do this on a plain piece of paper). Surround it with anything that you link to that creature, including adjectives, similes, expanded noun phrases etc. For example, if my choice was ‘shark’ I might write ‘razor sharp teeth like knives’, ‘predator’, ‘King of the depths’, ‘stealth’, ‘long, swift moving’. You might want to use books you have or the internet to find out some extra information that you can add. Keep these ideas safe as you will need them for tomorrow!

-Maths - Have another go at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ Today try WEEK 1, lesson 3 ‘Find a half’ and remember to record your answers in your red book! Challenge: What halves can you find around your house? Can you find half of objects, shapes and numbers? Remember that the two halves have to be equal! You could experiment with halving items in your house, for example Lego, tin cans, books etc.

-Topic – Have a look at the map of the world. What oceans can you spot? Which continents and countries are they near to? Have you seen any of them or perhaps you have flown over one or two when you have gone on holiday? Talk to someone about what you notice.

-Don’t forget to keep exploring with your creative topic project from the beginning of the week. Some of you have shared what you have done so far with this already and it has been great to see! Also, for those of you that like a good sing along, the ‘Sing Up’ website is now sharing free resources that you can access at home - happy singing!

Tuesday 21st April

Morning all! I can see that there were some super poem performances going on yesterday from the pictures and videos that some of you sent me – fantastic!

Activity ideas for today:

-Remember to keep up to date with your reading journal – are there any book recommendations that you could send to one of your friends from school?

-Literacy – Look again at the ‘Commotion in the Ocean’ poem that I shared on our ‘Class Story’ yesterday. Did you enjoy this poem? Why/why not? Using question words (such as, ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘how’) can you write 6 questions about this poem for someone else in your household to have a go at answering? Make sure you have a record of the correct answers ready!

-Maths – Have another look at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ Today try WEEK 1, lesson 2, ‘’Recognise a half’. Don’t forget to record the answers in your red maths book. Whiterose maths is something that we use a lot in school so it will follow on from our in class learning well!

You might also want to have a go at practising your 2x table. See if you can remember some of the facts out of order. Can you spot any patterns between halves and 2 lots of (2x)… You could even create a matching ‘snap’ game with the times tables and answers on cards!

-Topic – As our new topic focus is going to be ‘Under the Sea’ – have a think about what you already know about seas/oceans. You could think about what different ocean names you might already know, what animals and plants might live there, your own ocean experiences etc. Perhaps you could create a poster to share what you already know.

-Don’t forget your ongoing creative topic project that was set yesterday and keep me updated with what you have been getting up to as part of the chore challenge!

Monday 20th April

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a lovely weekend. I did lots of cooking this weekend – I’m not the best cook so Mr Waters is still not sure whether this was a good thing but I enjoyed it!!! I hope you spent some great times with your family over the weekend too.

Some activity suggestions for today:

- As always, don’t forget daily reading and keeping active – your pictures from the fitness activities you have been taking part in have really made me smile!

- Literacy - This term we are going to take our ‘Adventurers and Explorers’ topic to the next level and begin to explore not just what is on land but also that which lies ‘Under the Sea’! I have got a brilliant poem book called ‘Commotion in the Ocean’. On ‘Class Story’ on Dojo I will post the title poem from this book. I would like you to have a go at practising this poem as a performance. Think about reading with expression, actions, facial expressions, sound effects etc.! While you are rehearsing, think about what makes a poem different from a story. Then, see if you can perform the poem to someone else in your family. You could even record yourself!

- Maths - Have a go at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/ WEEK 1, lesson 1 ‘Make equal parts’ (this is NOT the Summer term one, sometimes itcomes up automatically on another week so be careful to make sure it is open on week 1!). We have been learning about fractions so hopefully you will be able to use what we have learnt to help you. Watch the video for lesson 1 and then have a go at the activity next to it. Record your answers in your red book. Question 7 is about making groups of counters. Have a go at finding groups of other totals of counters, you could use sweets, toys, bits of pasta etc. instead of counters! E.g. what equal groups can you make from 20 counters? What about 18? And 30? How many different ways can you find to group the counters?

- Topic – Ongoing project for the rest of the week: To tie in with our new extension to our topic ‘Under the Sea’, I would like you to get creative! Can you make or draw/paint something that ties in with our topic? I look forward to seeing what you have created!

If you would like to challenge yourself with any extra learning, have a look at the following websites for Literacy and maths mastery:

Morning all! Well done for getting back into the swing of things with your home learning – it is great to see that your enthusiasm has continued and hearing from lots of your parents when I phoned yesterday. Keep up the hard work!

Activity suggestions for today are:

-Ongoing daily reading and exercising.

-Literacy – The ‘ful’/’less’ challenge! We have learnt in class all about suffixes and how they are added to the end of words (root words) to alter the meaning (e.g. care - care+less = careless, care+ful = careful). Can you use the ‘ful’ and ‘less’ suffixes to change the meaning of these root words? Then use your words in a sentence to show how the meaning has changed. There are some additional activities surrounding this that can be found on 'Twinkl' if you fancy an extra little challenge!

Help

Thought

Pain

Hope

Mercy

-Maths – Have a look at the back of the ‘Starter’ activity that you were working on yesterday (pages 10/11, questions 20-26) and complete these questions. Question 26 is all about using and following instructions. As a challenge - can you create your own grid and write some instructions using the words ‘below’, ‘above’, ‘next to’, ‘to the left of’, ‘to the right of’ etc to direct someone else to complete a pattern on a grid of your own? For example, put a square at the top right, below this draw a triangle, to the right of this draw a squiggly line etc. Your grid doesn’t have to be on paper, you could use a blank board game board, the tiles in your bathroom or even the slabs in your garden and chalks! If you need any further guidance on this challenge then check out our class story page on Dojo where I have posted a video with an example.

-Handwriting challenge! I will upload on the ‘Class story’ part of Dojo some handwriting words for you to have a go at in your red handwriting book – don’t forget, if you didn’t bring this home as part of your pack you can download handwriting paper from Twinkl!

-It has been great to see all of you kick starting with the chore challenge again! A great effort! Don’t forget to take lots of regular breaks from your home learning and keep drinking lots of water. Enjoy the weekend!

Thursday 16th April

Morning year 2! I hope you had a super Easter break, ate lots of Easter chocolate and enjoyed spending time with your families. I have been busy having lot of video calls with my friends and family – I hope that you have too! We are missing you lots but were blown away by the effort that you put into your home learning before the holiday and can’t wait to see all that you get up to over the next couple of weeks!

Some suggested activities for today:

-Don’t forget to keep up with your daily fitness, remember that Joe Wicks and Jumpstart Jonny have some great videos to help you with this!

-Hopefully over the holiday you had the opportunity to do some reading. Take some time today to check that your reading journal is up to date with all the new books you have been exploring over this time. For an extra challenge you could even pick your favourite book so far and create a poster to advertise it! What could you include in your poster to make someone else want to pick up your book and read it?

-Literacy - Before the holiday you picked some spelling words from your ‘Year 2 common exception words’ list that can be found in your home learning packs (and also on Twinkl!) Pick 5 more words to learn today. See if you can still remember how to spell the words you focused on before! Can you use any of these words in sentences? Perhaps you could even create a wordsearch or crossword with clues for them?

-Maths – In your pack I have also put in some maths activities at the back. There is a second page called ‘Starter test’ (pages 8/9, questions 15-19 – I will share a picture on Dojo for those few who don’t have access to the pack if needed). Have a go at this. Question 18 is all about exploring money totals – have a look in your piggy bank/parent’s purse or wallet (make sure you ask first!), pick out 3 coins and see if you can find the total! Try it again! What about for 4 or 5 coins? Can you use working out to show how you got to the answer?

-Don’t forget the ‘Chore Challenge’ – from the photos I have seen, lots of you have been busy mopping, dusting, cooking and tidying! Keep up the hard work and putting a smile on the faces of those around you!

Don't forget to send me pictures or messages about what you have been getting up to through Class Dojo! Keep up the hard work!!!

Tuesday 31st March

Good morning all! It is the last day of term so today will be the last day I put up new activities until the new term begins. You have all been doing an amazing job with your home learning from what I can see, and I have been hearing from lots of parents who are very proud of you – so a massive well done! I think we deserve a class 2 cabbage!!! Please scroll down to see just a small selection of what some of you have been getting up to.

Some activities suggested for you today:

Literacy – Yesterday you found out about the Easter story and created a story map or comic strip to show what happened. Today, can you either caption the pictures you drew with sentences or use your red book to write the story of what happened in this Christian Easter story. I wonder if you can use conjunctions such as ‘and’, ‘so’ and ‘but’ to help you to tell the story?

Maths – Easter egg maths hunt: Can you create some maths clues on an Easter clues page - E.g. 5x4 =, what is double 10, half of 8 is…, ¼ of 12, 23 + 34 etc. Write the answers each on it’s own separate piece of paper (this could be a post-it, an egg shape or anything else you like!). Hide the answers around your home (inside or outside) – can other members of your family solve your clues to find the answers and match them together? Have fun!

You could also have a go at the second side of the ‘Starter test’ you did last week (pages 6/7, questions 8-14).

Creative – What are ‘Faberge eggs’? See if you can find out and design one on a piece of paper, make your own or even decorate a boiled egg to create your own Faberge egg. Don’t forget you can send over photos of your finished egg designs to me via Dojo.

Holiday challenge –

I hope you all have a very well earned break after all of the amazing home learning you have been doing and your hard work in school this term. Should you want something to keep you ticking over then a great holiday task could be to create an ‘Adventurers and Explorers Guide’! There is no expectation for this, but judging by how much lots of you have loved home learning it is something you might be interested in having a go at! You could include information such as:

·What it takes to be an explorer

·Famous explorers

·Adventures you have been on

·What explorers need

·Different lands that might be/have been explored

·Information on maps

·…or anything else that takes your fancy!

Have a great rest and I will be back on the website after the holiday with lots of new ideas for you to do to carry on with your fantastic home learning. In the meantime, I will still be checking emails/Dojo so please don’t hesitate to get in contact if needed.

Keep safe and enjoy the break!

Don't forget, some useful websites you might like to keep an eye on over the next few weeks include:

I have been absolutely blown away by all that you have been getting up to over the last week, including your fantastic attempts with the chore challenge! Here are just a small selection of some of the things that have been sent to me over the last few days - please keep it coming with all that you are getting up to!

Monday 30th March

Good morning! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and spent lots of time with your family – I have been making the most of the sunshine with some spring cleaning! Although the hail yesterday took me by surprise...it was supposed to be the first day of official Summer after all!

Some suggested activities for today include:

·Literacy: reading comprehension – On Friday you had a go at the first set of comprehension questions from your pack about the poem ‘Daddy fell into the pond’. Today I would like you to have a go at the second side of questions (pages 8/9). There are 4 questions which are all understanding questions. Challenge: Can you spot any pairs of rhyming words in the poem? Can you think of any other words that would also fit with these rhyming pairs? (I will put a photo of the poem on Dojo so that anyone that doesn’t have access can still use ‘Vipers’ to ask questions about the poem and you can still take part in the rhyming word hunt!)

·Maths – Number bond eggs. Create some Easter eggs. Draw a line across the middle to crack them in half. Fill your eggs with number bonds that you can think of. Choose what number you want to make bonds to – e.g. 20, 30, 50 etc. Cut your eggs in half and muddle them up. Can you match the pairs that fit back together? Can someone else in your household match all of your egg pairs? I will put some pictures up on Dojo to show you what this might look like if you need a helping hand!

·General – Easter is just around the corner! At this time, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. See what you can find out about the Easter story (Twinkl has some great resources that can support with this). Can you story map/comic strip the Easter story? You will be able to use this to help you with tomorrow’s literacy.

Enjoy some Easter fun today and see what you can find out! I look forward to hearing about how you get on with the maths egg game - good luck!

Friday 27th March

Morning all! You have nearly completed your first week of home learning – well done! Suggested tasks for today are:

·Don’t forget to keep up with the daily reading and exercising! I have been seeing some great updates from your reading journals.

·Literacy: reading comprehension – In your home learning pack you will find a comprehension with a poem titled ‘Daddy fell into the pond’. This has 2 sides, please just do the first side (pages 6/7) which has 4 ‘find and copy’ questions on it. See if there is any tricky vocabulary in the poem that you are not sure of the meaning of – if so, can you use a dictionary to look up these words to find out their meaning.

If you are one of the few people who do not have a pack with this comprehension enclosed, then please use the ‘Reading Vipers’ questions to quiz your child about their reading book!

·Maths – Following on from your exploring this week on shape, I have put in your home learning pack an activity called ‘Easter Boxes’. Can you use the clues to find out whose egg will be in each box? For those of you that don’t have the pack, I will put a picture of the clues up on the class story part of Dojo so you can still join in the fun! Challenge – can you make some clues for your own Easter boxes?

·Handwriting – Have a go at practising some handwriting today using your handwriting book (if you have not brought this home you could use handwriting paper which is downloadable from ‘Twinkl’). I will put up a picture on Dojo of the words to practise today as well as the maths task. Think carefully about how you join the letters and which are taller and shorter!

·Topic exploring – We have begun to look at maps in a bit more detail this term. See if you can find a map of the world (either in an atlas or on the internet) – can you find the UK? Where abouts is it on the map? What is near to us? Which countries are far away?

Keep up the great work year 2! Make sure you have a good rest this weekend and have a great time with your families!

Thursday 26th March

Morning year 2!

Wow, you have all been so busy – keep up the amazing work! The pictures from the chore challenge have been keeping me smiling so thank you for sending those in. It is good to see you all helping out around the house! I really enjoyed listening to the David Walliams story yesterday - I have sent the link for how to access this via Dojo if you want to have a listen today too as there is a new one being released for free every day for the next 30 days! Some other suggested activities for today are:

·Don’t forget to keep fit this morning with Joe Wicks or Jumpstart Jonny! I have been giving it a go too and it is definitely a good way to get your body moving!!!

·Literacy - Yesterday you described a journey on your island to reach some hidden treasure. Today I would like you to let your imagination go wild! What was the secret treasure?! Get creative and draw/design (or you could even make!) a treasure chest full of valuable treasure. Perhaps you could write a list of what is inside the chest using some adjectives to describe it?

·Maths – Yesterday you went on a 2D shape hunt around your home. Today I would like you to go on a 3D shape hunt! What shapes can you find? Can you describe the properties of these shapes (e.g. number of vertices, edges, shape of faces). What about finding an old cereal – or other - box (make sure it is empty of cereal first!) and investigate it in a bit more detail by taking it apart – this is called a shape ‘net’.

·Think back to the 4 or 5 spelling words that you were practising on Tuesday. Can you still remember how to spell them? See if you can add 2 more words from the list I gave you (also found on ‘Twinkl’ if needed) and learn those too!

Parents please note Carol Vorderman has made her website free for parents to use for home learning. If you want to supplement the maths activities that I have been sharing then you can access this on: https://www.themathsfactor.com/

Wednesday 25th March

Good morning! I hope you all are getting on ok with all the home learning. I have been loving seeing all that you have had to share over the last couple of days – it looks like you have been busy bees!

Some suggestions of activities that you could have a go at today:

·Don’t forget to keep your reading journals updated. Remember to include in your journal information that summarises the book you have read, recommendations, a star rating and a picture of your favourite scene.

·Literacy - Yesterday you imagined a den that you might find on your secret island. Today I would like you to pick a secret location for burying some hidden treasure on the island! Can you write directions to your secret treasure site from a chosen starting point? Perhaps you could use time conjunctions (first, next, then) like you were for your Robert Scott diary writing to put the instructions in order? I wonder if anyone at home can follow the instructions to uncover where the treasure is hidden on your map? Or you could have a go at creating directions for a treasure hunt in your house or garden if you would prefer!

·Maths – At school we have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes. Today I would like you to focus on what you can remember about 2D shapes. Go on a shape hunt - what shapes can you find around your house? Can you make any facts up? E.g. which room has the most squares? Where is the biggest triangle that you can find? What is the rarest shape? Are there any shapes that you can see in the garden?

·Lots of people have been sharing an idea of putting up a rainbow in their windows. This is spreading so much sunshine and happiness! If you have a chance perhaps this is something that you would like to have a go at! I did, and Mr Waters joked that at the end of the rainbow would be a pot of loo rolls instead of gold! I wonder what you would like to find at the end of your rainbow?

Don’t forget you can get access to free ebooks if you sign up to Oxford Owls and make sure you keep up with that fitness! I have been thoroughly enjoying the pictures of some of you joining in with Joe Wicks and Jumpstart Jonny!

Tuesday 24th March 2020

Morning everyone!

Suggested options for activities today (please pick and choose what you think would work for you today) -

9-9:30 Joe Wicks workout accessed by the link below or 'Jumpstart Jonny' live workout from 9am found on youtube.com/jumpstartjonny

Imagine a journey around your island that you created. Perhaps you could describe the journey to someone else? Or maybe you could role play the journey? You could even create/imagine a den that you might find in your island (I used to do this when I was younger with cushions off the sofa!)

xtable challenge! Practise your 2s, 10s and 5x tables. Can you use arrays to show the different tables? Can you check them using dividing inverses? (you could use sharing circles for working out) - if I can work out how(!!) I will upload a video on Dojo with further guidance for this if needed!

Carrying on with your finding out/diary writing for Robert Scott.(see yesterday)

You could even pick 4 or 5 spelling words from your high frequency words list for year 2 (these can be found in your packs or accessed via Twinkl) and practise learning these. Can you use them in a sentence?

The chore challenge! (I look forward to hearing what you are getting up to!)

Good luck and don't forget to be in touch if there is anything that you are unsure of :)

Monday 23rd March 2020

Good morning class 2! I hope you have had a lovely weekend :)

Some activities for you to do today -

Firstly, you can access daily PE for the children from 9-9:30 with Joe Wicks. Please just use the link:

Jumpstart Jonny is also providing free access to his short videos too!

Reading - Remember to keep up with the daily reading and use 'Reading Vipers' to develop your comprehension skills. Don't forget to keep up to date with your reading journal!

Potential suggested activities for today:

Literacy - 'The Island'. We have been learning all about 'Adventurers and Explorers' so today I would like you to turn into an explorer that has just discovered their own secret island. Create a map/design of your island - see how creative you can be! Can you name the different parts of your island? e.g. 'The Bendy Bridge', 'Crocodile Creek'. See if you can use adjectives to describe what each part of the island is like. Challenge - experiment with using a thesaurus (these can be online!) to find synonyms for your adjectives or can you think of your own? (e.g. changing 'big' to 'enormous').

Maths - In the pack that I sent home you will find 2 back to back pages named 'Starter test'. Please complete the first one of these pages (just the front, questions 1-7) Can you explain to someone at home how you solved these problems? Question 6 is all about comparing the lengths of toy trucks. See if you can sort some of your toys/objects around the house from shortest to longest. Can you use a ruler to measure them? Challenge - What if you added the lengths of 2 of the objects together? Or even 3? Can you show your working out for this?

Topic - To tie in with our exploration of adventurers and explorers I would like you to find out about Robert Scott who explored the Antarctic. What do you think it would have been like for him to explore these lands? What skills would he have needed? Then, in your red book see if you can write a diary entry (like we did for Samuel Pepys!) in the first person as Robert Scott, telling me all about your experiences. Don't forget to include information about how you felt, what you thought, experiences you had and anything else you think would be interesting. You might use time conjunctions (such as - first, next, then, after that, finally) to sequence the events! This will be a 2 DAY task - so perhaps do your finding out and plan for your diary today and do the writing tomorrow.

(Parents, please note that if you need some easy to access good resources for finding out about Robert Scott you can access these through 'Twinkl'. This is offering free access if you go to www.twinkl.co,uk/offer and enter the code UKTWINKLHELPS)

Don't forget to take regular breaks throughout the day. Make the most of all this extra family time by playing games, going into the garden and see if you can take part in...

Mrs Waters' Chore challenge - What job can you do today to help out? Maybe you can help with the washing up? Or tidy up your room? Or even do a bit of weeding in the garden! I will be challenging you to do one thing every day to help put a smile on someone else's face!

Good luck and enjoy! Remember, I can still see the learning you have been getting up to if you send it to me via 'Class Dojo'

Enrichment day!

This enrichment day focused on us learning all about 'Growth Mindset'. We had visitors in to talk with us all about the growth mindset approach...which led to some fun activities. We also looked at the book 'The Dot' and thought about taking pride in our achievements!

Science week - Rocks and Fossils visitor!

Following on from the rest of our work this week where we have been investigating and exploring, today we had a visitor who was a geologist. He told us all about different types of rocks and how they are made with some great demonstrations. We couldn't believe how many differences there are from different types of rock and everything that you can learn from them! We also thought about fossils and how they are formed. It made us think very deeply and ask lots of new questions.

Science week - cress investigating!

This week we are celebrating Science week! Our week kicked off with a special visitor on Monday morning and ever since then we have been carrying out the 'Great Cress Investigation!' We are using our observation skills to explore how our cress seeds are growing from seeds into full grown cress plants. We are also investigating how the growth of the seeds is affected by amount of light, water and temperature.

Class 2 ROCK book day!

Today is book day and the theme this year is to 'Share a Story'! All of the children turned up this morning in some fantastic costumes and we are spending the day reading eBooks, sharing stories with each other, turning ourselves into our characters and designing Superheroes and Supervillains! It is great to see all of the children so enthusiastic and excited about books!

Class 2's Great Fire of London Assembly!

On Friday, year 2 performed for the rest of the school and their parents and carers in their 'Great Fire of London' class assembly. In the assembly they shared all that they had learnt so far in their topic, including how the fire started, why it spread and who was involved. The sang beautifully, shared their learning, created their own backdrop and even performed their very own self created fire dance! Afterwards the parents were invited into the classroom for 'open classroom' so that they could see all of class 2's learning which included diary writing, narrative sharing, research, investigating of historical sources, timeline building plus much much more! Well done class 2!

The Great Fire of London art

We have started our brand new topic this term, looking at how the Great Fire of London started and why it spread so quickly. To kick start our topic we had a go at getting creative with some fiery art!

Shepherd's Delight!

This week KS1 have been taking part in their Christmas production, 'Shepherd's delight!' They have worked incredibly hard to learn lots of festive songs, actions and words. The performances went down a storm and we are so proud of all of our budding actors and actresses!

Festive fun!

Today was Christmas dinner day! We all enjoyed a delicious roast while wearing Christmas jumpers. This afternoon the children designed some beautiful baubles to decorate their Christmas trees with.

The wild things come to life...

Today, class 2 made their very own 'Wild things' puppets. We then used the puppets to help us retell the story and thought about how different characters might act and what they might say and do.

Year 2 Remember

Open classroom!

Year 2 had an open classroom on Thursday this week. It was great to see all of the children taking such pride in their learning and showing off all that they had done! A big thank you to all of the parents who came along.

The Gruffalo Walk!

Today class 2 went exploring on our Gruffalo walk. We received an unexpected letter in the post that gave us clues from the Gruffalo as to where to go! We set off on our adventure and collected lots of evidence along the way, keeping an eye out for signs that the Gruffalo had passed the same way. He led us on a wild goose chase back to school where we discovered he had left a very precious surprise - 3 of his Gruffalo eggs! We talked about how to keep these safe and decided to bring them into the classroom to keep them warm. Watch this space for more information...!

The final cook off!

It was class 2's final cooking session today and it went down a treat! To tie in with out rainforest project, Cheryl told us all about 'Cirio de Nazare' - a Brazilian festival. We had a go at trying to make a Taça da Felicidade (also known as 'cup of happiness') which is a type of trifle. The children put on their chef's hats to consider how they decorated their trifles after all the chopping and mixing that went into making them. We all thoroughly enjoyed having a big trifle feast. A massive thank you to 'Cooking Pioneers' for giving us all of these lovely cooking opportunities.

Guacamole fun!

Today we were learning all about the importance of eating your five a day! We thought about how much fruit or veg equals one portion (a handful) and then used avocado and cherry tomatoes to make some tasty guacamole. We all individually seasoned our guacamole to our taste using salt, pepper and paprika. We then had a vegetable quiz to see how many tricky vegetable names we knew!

Year 2 make not-so-boring pasta salad!

Today in our cooking lesson we learnt about carbohydrates and then explored creating an exciting pasta salad using lots of different vegetables. We compared the difference between white and brown pasta and thought about what foods are good carbohydrates and which carbohydrates we should eat in moderation...

Fruit fun while cooking!

In today's cooking lesson we made a tasty fruit salad with a range of delicious, juicy fruits! We talked about where all the food came from and how that affected the taste of the fruit. This ties in with our current Geography learning as we are exploring continents and in particular South America. The children used a range of skills to prepare the fruit so that the salad had lots of different textures in it. We then taste tested and it was fantastic!

Taste testing in the Amazon...

Today we taste tested a range of foods that can be found in the Amazon Rainforest to help us to explore what life in the rainforest might be like. We used our senses to explore and practised our Science skills of making observations and recording. We tried a range of foods including: cinnamon, pineapple, mango, sugar, coffee and dark chocolate. We also talked about what other foods tribes people might eat and how they would get it...such as fishing in the river and hunting for peccaries.

Year 2 get cooking!

Year 2 had their first cooking session today with 'Cooking Pioneers' and had the best time! We talked about safety in the kitchen and then got to make our very own cheese and apple coleslaw which we taste tested at the end of the session. We practised knife skills, grating, following instructions and team work...the end product was delicious! A big thank you to Cooking Pioneers for giving us such an enjoyable opportunity. Keep posted for next week to find out what we make next!

Rainforest Gunge!

Class 2 have kick started their rainforest topic today with a gunge plunge! Hidden in the gunge were items that link to the rainforest. We took the plunge to find the missing objects and shared clues so that the rest of the class could guess what they were. Afterwards, we thought about what rainforest items we would hide in our own gunge - there were some great ideas and it got us really thinking about what we already know!

Dear Class 2 parents and carers,

Welcome back to a brand new year! We hope that you all had an enjoyable break. It has been brilliant to hear all the stories from the children of their holidays and we have also enjoyed sharing with them all that we will be learning in the upcoming year. This letter is to inform you of any key information you may wish to know. Should you have any queries then our door is always open so please feel free to pay us a visit!

We will be having a topic theme for each new term. Our topic focus for the first term will be ‘The Rainforest!’. Within this topic we will be covering a wide range of learning from sharing a variety of rainforest related books and poetry to exploring number bond bugs. Alongside this we will be learning about the rainforest habitat and what dwells within it, focusing on animal groups and classification. We will also be developing our understanding of where the Amazon rainforest is and thinking about interesting ways the rainforest can be represented through different artistic forms.

There will be a big focus this year in Maths on development of reasoning skills. We will start this term with a focus on ‘Number’ with learning challenges surrounding ‘place value’ and ‘addition and subtraction’. The children will be encouraged to use mathematical manipulatives such as 100 squares and number lines in class to support their calculations and please feel free to reinforce this at home. We will also be taking part in the weekly times table quizzes where the children will have the opportunity to earn counters to enable their house flag to be flying on the school flag pole for the following week.

In our literacy learning, we are going to be having a big push on handwriting and the children will be beginning to explore joining their letters! We will be supporting the children with starting to develop their own fluent joined up handwriting style. We are keen to make sure that this focus takes place alongside a creative writing approach that encourages children to develop a ‘flair’ for writing.

We love to hear what the children themselves have to share about the topic and will set aside a slot on Friday afternoons for a topic based ‘show and tell’ session. This will be an opportunity for children to share any objects or outside learning that they wish to do with our topic of ‘The Rainforest’. The focus for show and tell will alter each term to fit in with the new topic. Please encourage the children to prepare some words to share for any item that they bring in.

Homework will be given out on a Monday, due in on the following Monday. Homework books are not needed for Monday and Tuesday’s homework so children will have their books back in time for any written tasks. However, although homework has been set on particular days this does not mean that you need to stick to this timetable! Please feel free to alter it to suit you and your child. Your support is greatly valued with all of these homework activities and in order to reinforce this we will be sending home a ‘parent pack’ that outlines some of the key learning that your children will be exploring throughout the year. Topic homework will last over the term in the form of the project. At the end of each term we will have a ‘Topic Gallery’ where children will have the opportunity to share their hard work and be praised for their efforts!

Please support your child in remembering the correct school equipment (we seem to have a black hole for pencils in our classroom!). The children have their own tray in Year 2 and may therefore choose to bring in a pencil case. PE will be on a Monday and a Wednesday however this may alter occasionally depending on the weather (particularly in the Spring and Summer months). For this your children will need a named PE kit consisting of school PE top, shorts and plimsolls.

We will continue this year to use the Home School Contact Book as a main method of communication, however we very much have an ‘open door’ policy in our classroom should you have anything you would like to discuss. You will also be receiving a letter in the coming days about ‘Class Dojo’, which we also use as a main source of communication. We are very excited about the upcoming year and look forward to all that we are going to be getting up to! We hope that everyone has a happy term! J